by Joe Janes

The Ottawa County Senior Community Center

Forth of July Celebration
 

Wednesday       July 4, 2018         8:30am

In attendance: Center Director Margaret Niehauser, Glenn Davis, Dr. Neil Loughlin, Janet Webster, Mark Krause, Paul Custodio, Greg Wendling, Rebecca Levine, Nat “Nat” Topping, Susan Gutowski, Chip Chinery, Millie Milburn, Milt Milburn, Deanna Baker, and Lori Letterhos.

Chris Othic was heavily sedated and his wife said his prescription medicine hasn’t been mixing well with his Crown Royal, so I don’t know if that counts as in attendance. Chris does love his Crown Royal. He drinks it right out of the cloth bag. Like a gentleman.

The last time anyone did notes was when Glenn Davis took over for his wife Phyllis one time last September when she was incapacitated. He has not done it since because he did not like doing it at all and no one else would do it.

Note taking this morning by Glenn Davis in honor of his wife who passed away two months ago on Cinco de Mayo. I blame the Mexicans in town who kept driving down our street honking their horns disturbing her rest. This isn’t a racist thing. It’s just a fact. She loved the Mexicans and celebrated Cinco de Mayo from her living room hospital bed by wearing a colorful sombrero and fake mustache while eating pureed Taco Bell. People think we’re rich because we had a hospital bed in our home. We rented. I do miss it though. We still had three weeks paid for when she passed. I enjoyed watching ESPN while reclining and eating Doritos. See? Doritos. We aren’t racist. 

Independence Day was one of Phyllis's favorite holidays. Right up there with Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and Columbus Day. I am taking these notes for her. 

During our traditional meeting opener singing the national anthem aka pella NOBODY took a knee! No, Sir or Madam! Although Nat “Nat” Topping toppled over as he was standing a bit wobbly while on his Rascal Mobility Scooter. Went right over the handlebars. We’re waiting for word on his condition. He’ll be back. He’s a tough nut. He crawled back on to his Rascal and scooted himself to the Magruder Hospital emergency room where he got hit by an ambulance. Good folks over there at Magruder. According to Dr. Neil, they said they’d pay for his scooter. 

Today is our annual big 4th of July celebration. Everybody has a job to do.

Center Director Margaret Niehauser has brought out all the flags from storage. Her and Lori Letterhos were in charge of getting the dust mites and moths off them. They used some battery-operated handheld fans to do that this morning. Made a lot of noise, but it got the job done. 

Janet Webster mopped up the floor when they were done. 

Dr. Neil paid for and picked up a patriotic sheet cake from the Kroger’s. It was on sale because of a typographical error. It says “Make America Great Again! Happy July Forth!” Nobody even noticed. Paul Custodio pointed it out. There should be a comma after “Great”.

Mark Krause and Greg Wendling are in charge of games. They brought in some red, white, and blue balloons for us to bat around with pool noodles while sitting in a circle. Not sure what the end game is supposed to be on that. Right now, they are trying to rig up Rebecca Levine’s oxygen tank to fill them up. Nobody has the lungs or lips for that sort of thing anymore. 

Susan Gutowski brought in some games just for the grand kids. Some board games from her attic. Monopoly and Scrabble. She says there are pieces missing from both, but kids won’t care. They can still spell words and play with the cannon and thimble. 

Chip Chinery said he’ll oversee music and bring his vinyl. I do not know what one has to do with the other, but I look forward to seeing this chair he thinks everyone will “groove’ to. 

Millie and Milt Milburn brought the fireworks. These are going to be those little plastic champagne poppers. They said they bought a dozen for New Year's and had eleven left over. Can’t wait. 

Deanna Baker said she would oversee clean up. Key word there is “oversee”. That means she’s just going to stand around and tell other people what to do. Boy howdy.

Well, we’re about to open the doors and let people in. I’m in charge of checking IDs and making sure everyone is from Ottawa County AND a US citizen. If you ain’t from here, you are not welcome. At The Ottawa County Senior Community Center, we’re all about the red, white and blue flag. This is America. Not Russia.